New kitchen: must haves or what to avoid?

rosie383

Had another afternoon in IKEA putting all of your lovely suggestions in our kitchen plan. We are going to fit it ourselves as we are quite handy and their metod kitchen is designed to be done by the customer. The money we will save on fitting will go towards a granite worktop. So we are gradually getting there.
At the car boot the other day I found exactly the sink I was planning to buy. Brand new, £20 instead of £90!! If I can find a few other bargains like that it will all help.

katejo

I was recommended Duropal laminate worksurfaces and don't regret it at all. They are very hardwearing. I chose one with a speckly pattern, matt (not glossy) surface and it still looks good as new after 3.5 years. http://www.solidsurfacekitchens.co.uk/duropal-worktops-11-c.asp
Also pan drawers are good. Would have liked a pull out larder but not enough space together with eye level oven so sacrificed the larder.

*~Zephyr~*

I'm in the process of planning a new kitchen. There's so much wrong with the one I've got, but the previous house owners never cooked, which explains a lot!

I hate, hate, HATE the pull-out larder. It's too heavy when it's full, things are always falling down the back and are impossible to get out and you can't get in there properly to clean it. Can't wait to get rid of it.

Cupboards MUST each the ceiling - this I'm finding challenging because our ceilings are 10ft high - not a lot of places make cabinets that tall! My search continues....

AVOID stainless steel sinks. My mum wanted one for years and now she has one she spends half her life cleaning and polishing it because it shows every water mark!

A super-efficient extractor fan is a must. The really good (and v.expensive, unfortunately) ones really cut down on the amount of grease that gets thrown out to coat the cupboards.

I NEED a warming drawer. I swear I'll start making my own bread once I have one.

Oven must be eye-level. Currently got a built-under one and my arthritic knees really grumble when I get down on the floor to clean it. This is only going to get worse with age so the oven must be higher!

Pan drawers - lots of pan drawers - so I don't have to get down on my knees to dig around in the back of the cupboards!

I love the look of wood worktops, but my brother has one and I see the work that goes into keeping it looking good and if I'm honest - I'm too ruddy lazy to be sanding and oiling three times a year. Plus the amount of sanding dust is horrific!

But the real essential which I know I'm not going to get away with, is a month long holiday for while it's being done!! Just the though of it is setting my eye twitching again - it's going to be hell!

Islandmaid

*~Zephyr~* wrote: »

Cupboards MUST each the ceiling - this I'm finding challenging because our ceilings are 10ft high - not a lot of places make cabinets that tall! My search continues....

Find yourself a 'proper' joiner, they will make the units to your requirements - my DH does this all the time, bespoke doesn't necessarily mean ridiculously expensive

rosie383

I've noticed that a couple of you have mentioned Duropal now and certainly the reviews are favourable. I had never heard of it before. I can't seem to find somewhere that I could go and have a look and a feel. Does anyone know where I would be able to do this please?

Justamum

We had our kitchen redone two years ago. When we moved in it was a very badly designed kitchen. Two low cupboards, but you could only realistically use half of them because the other half was so far back you couldn't see in! I got a kitchen planner in and now we have oodles of space - mainly drawers like others have as they're far more practical.

To avoid the wasted corner cupboard which is impossible to use, I got a corner sink.

I did think of wooden worktops, but having seen some of them in houses we looked round, they can start to look tatty quite quickly. We got a German kitchen - Nobilia - and it still looks as good as new.

Justamum

*~Zephyr~* wrote: »

I NEED a warming drawer. I swear I'll start making my own bread once I have one.

You don't need a warm place for bread to rise. I leave mine on the kitchen worktop and have to keep fighting it back into the bowl!

*~Zephyr~* wrote: »

But the real essential which I know I'm not going to get away with, is a month long holiday for while it's being done!! Just the though of it is setting my eye twitching again - it's going to be hell!

I don't blame you. We had to have our kitchen replastered before it could be fitted (the previous owners had a weird textured wall with protruding bricks). Plaster dust everywhere! Plus nowhere really to cook properly. Go on, have that holiday while it's being done

cyantist

*~Zephyr~* wrote: »

I hate, hate, HATE the pull-out larder. It's too heavy when it's full, things are always falling down the back and are impossible to get out and you can't get in there properly to clean it. Can't wait to get rid of it.

Cupboards MUST each the ceiling - this I'm finding challenging because our ceilings are 10ft high - not a lot of places make cabinets that tall! My search continues....

AVOID stainless steel sinks. My mum wanted one for years and now she has one she spends half her life cleaning and polishing it because it shows every water mark!

A super-efficient extractor fan is a must. The really good (and v.expensive, unfortunately) ones really cut down on the amount of grease that gets thrown out to coat the cupboards.

I NEED a warming drawer. I swear I'll start making my own bread once I have one.

Oven must be eye-level. Currently got a built-under one and my arthritic knees really grumble when I get down on the floor to clean it. This is only going to get worse with age so the oven must be higher!

Pan drawers - lots of pan drawers - so I don't have to get down on my knees to dig around in the back of the cupboards!

I love the look of wood worktops, but my brother has one and I see the work that goes into keeping it looking good and if I'm honest - I'm too ruddy lazy to be sanding and oiling three times a year. Plus the amount of sanding dust is horrific!

But the real essential which I know I'm not going to get away with, is a month long holiday for while it's being done!! Just the though of it is setting my eye twitching again - it's going to be hell!

I love love love the pull out larder units. But they have to have solid bottoms so you don’t lose stuff from the shelves.

In previous kitchens we had a white ceramic sink, and then a composite. The white one got permanent grey/black marks on from metal touching it and the composite was never ever clean. Our current kitchen has a stainless steel sink that is 20 years old and despite living in a hard water area looks newer than the ceramic and composite ones looked after a year. We are getting ours replaced now and a stainless steel sink was on my must have list. Not just any old sink though, the list of must-haves for the sink was ridiculous (my kitchen fitter loved me!)

The rest I completely agree with, we had wooden worktops before and they were beautiful but so much effort there’s no way I’m doing that again.

Also on my list was:
It had to be symmetrical, and with the wall cupboard lines exactly lining up with the base units
Anything but gloss cupboard doors
True handleless
Cupboards pretty much to ceiling, then any small gap boxed in
Induction hob and two full size single ovens
At least 5m of worktop space

We went away on holiday when out previous kitchen was replaced, but there were so many unexpected little questions they had throughout that we came back and almost nothing had been done and we had to content with no kitchen for another 2 weeks (and no way to do our holiday washing), as well as jet lag. I'd never do that again.

VfM4meplse

I'm another fan of stainless steel sinks, always have been and always will. The minute a ceramic sink gets a hairline crack in it, the look is completely ruined. Apart from which they remind me of the toilet facilities at school (not good memories).

The airing cupboard does me fine for leavening.

Oh yes and I'm not a fan of glossy cabinets either. I know they've been back in fashion for a while but to me they will always be a look from the 1970s.

Just thinking about attending Grand Designs this year. I'd love to have some work done BUT the thought of a shoddy finish would be a constant irritation. I hate slap-dashedness.

woolythoughts

Just getting my dream kitchen put in:

http://panorama.magnet.2020.net/view/wjttj6j58ko7twqxvmveig/

We're not getting magnet to do it, but their 3D drawing sums up exactly what I'm getting better than other pictures.

Getting two slide and hide nerffs and an integrated grill microwave and a multi zone induction hob.

All white goods are actually in the garage which is accessed from the kitchen and has been made into a utility.

Magic corner units in each of the corners plus pull out larders to the left of the ovens.

I'm not going for granite work tops because with cream cupboards and floor, if I feel like changing the kitchen feel every couple of years, it's easy done. By changing the work tops and repainting.

Cost plus the appliances is about 15K.